Songs of Solitude
by what a feeling
Summary: Percy works on controlling his powers. Annabeth is once more blinded by her love for someone. And while they heal, their world is once more in danger. Percabeth with dark! Percy
1. i Annabeth: Prologue

**I feel like I'm pulling a Taylor Swift and changing, well- everything. I'm gonna start posting more so it gives me the motivation to keep writing. I'm so, so sorry, but I'm not going to be continuing any of my previous fics- Except** ** _maybe_** **the last one- Three Card Monte. I', also going to delete a couple of them (they're really cringey haha) so I'm SO SORRY guys! Also to make up for it, I'm going to go all out and post as often as I can, hope that's okay! xxxx A (also I changed my name! It me!)**

I.

Nobody really envies Annabeth's position right now. You know what they say- The only thing to travel faster than light is gossip, and boy, do people talk.

She's almost growing immune to the stares and the constant whispering behind her back. She knows the rumors, though- The brave ones scream them out at her, the bullies send her ominous 'warnings' and the cowards aren't as quiet as they think when they murmur.

 _Her boyfriend is crazy. He's too temperamental- They never know when he'll decide to blow up Camp_.

She doesn't care. Not when she comes back to a bed filled with bugs or the bright red paint on the door of the Athena cabin, telling her to 'GET AWAY FROM HIM', because she knows Percy better than anybody else here.

People fear power, she tells herself. And Percy's as powerful as it gets.

She sits alone on the Poseidon table for dinner- Her own siblings are weary of her- there's a new twelve-year-old, and after a talk with Malcolm, they'd come to the agreement- albeit bitter on both ends- that she's better off staying out of their way. Without Percy, who'd claimed he wasn't particularly hungry, Annabeth had nobody to eat with.

And maybe, if she knew the company she was going to have, she'd have been a little happier about not having any at all.

Piper slides in beside her. Annabeth looks up at her, only to see Jason and Leo set down their plates opposite the girls. They all have somber expressions on their faces.

"We need to talk." Piper announces, and Annabeth is about to agree, when she catches herself- _Now_ they want to talk? She scowls at Piper- The daughter of Aphrodite never came to have a fair conversation.

"Then play fair." She tells her coldly. "Tuck your charm in your pocket."

Piper has the decency to look a little embarrassed. Annabeth looks at the girl she'd thought was one of her best friends. She hates to admit it, even to herself, but she'd thought, in some way, that maybe Piper would be able to fill in the massive abyss Silena had left behind. She knew she couldn't replace someone, but she'd hoped Piper would be there for her, as her best friend.

Obviously, she couldn't have been more wrong. Maybe, in a way, Annabeth is most bitter about Piper, because she'd thought they were above it. She'd hoped beyond hope that Piper would stay by her side- by Percy's side, when things went to shit.

"You know what we want to talk about." Jason says, eyes pleading. Annabeth takes a forkful of her potato mash and shoves it into her mouth to stop herself from snapping back at him. She glares at the three of them.

"I don't suppose it's to do with the fact that Percy's going through the toughest time, and that none of you want to help?" She asks.

"Percy- Look, we care about you." Piper pleads. She reaches out to hold Annabeth's hand. Her touch is cold.

"You're losing weight. You look constantly tired." Leo points out. "I saw you fight Clarisse this afternoon. She nearly ran her spear through your brains."

"Yeah, he's right." Jason agrees, nodding his head vehemently. "You've gotten incredibly slow. It looks like you're dy-" But Annabeth doesn't miss the way Piper's eyes flash and he stops himself.

"What we're trying to say is," Piper continues. "We understand that you want to be there for Percy, Annabeth, but it's taking a toll on _you_ , and- I can't stand around to watch him suck the lif-"

But the words are already out. Annabeth feels blood raging in her ears. Tears sting at her eyes. Her throat is thick with emotion suppressed over the last two months.

"He's dangerous, Annabeth. He is _out of control_." Leo stresses. He leans forward. "You _have_ to back off, or the next time he has one of this temper tantrums,-"

"You'll be closest." Piper finishes.

Annabeth shakes her head, ignoring the tears trickling down her face.

"Percy deserves better." She tells them. She gets to her feet, only to have everyone stare at her- again. This time, she addresses everyone. "He deserves better than all of you." She's still shaking her head. "You want him to win you your battles, not once do any of you think about the effect it would have on him."

Her voice has risen to a scream, and she feels herself losing her hold on her emotions. She starts sobbing, then.

"Everyone here is selfish." She sobs, sinking to her knees, unable to hold her own weight. Nobody steps forward to help. "Clarisse." Annabeth cries. "Connor, Travis, Katie- _Rachel_." She screeches, new wave of anger taking over her. She turns on her heel to face the oracle, who's sat beside Chiron, staring at her with big eyes.

"You were his best friend." She cries. "Do you even care?"

Rachel only regards her silently with a slight pout, like she feels sorry for her. Even Chiron is watching her sadly, like he would've helped, but his hands were tied. She hates the look of pity she's getting. She doesn't need _pity_.

Mr. D, for the first time, doesn't say anything. He looks at her like she's scum of the earth. She sobs hysterically on the floor, burying her face in her hands. He'd told her a while ago that Percy wasn't going mad- and there wasn't much he could do for her. Not one person moves to comfort her.

Instead, after about a minute of silence apart from her ragged breaths, arms wrap around her waist and hoist her to her feet. She looks up at Percy, whose expression is impossible to read. He picks her up like she weighs nothing and walks out without so much as a word to anyone else.

Annabeth is exhausted, and closes her eyes for a moment, but the next time she opens them, it's bright outside, and Percy's on his stomach and fast asleep beside her.

She reaches out, using one hand to cup the side of his face that she can see. He looks so at peace, she thinks. It's so rare, for them to have peaceful moments like these. The sun casts a warm halo around him. His breathing is steady, features relaxed.

For a second, Annabeth imagines this- an eternity of waking up by his side like this. She allows herself the luxury of dreaming a future for them. A happy one, where she'd go to work every morning and kiss Percy goodbye, and come home to a spaghetti and wine dinner. They'd talk about their days and he'd kiss her and it could escalate and they'd have sex on their couch and Percy would tell her he loved her every night and hold her close, and- He'd be _happy_.

"Morning." Percy mumbles sleepily, bringing her back to reality. She smiles at him, moving closer to be by his side. He wraps his arms around her, pulling her to him. "What were you thinking about?"

"What if we left Camp?" She asks. Percy frowns at her. "We'll go somewhere sunny. Next to the beach. Europe- Let's go to Mykonos, maybe Venice. Somewhere nice." Percy cracks a smile, burying his face in her neck. He presses his lips against her skin.

"Sure." He says. "Let's do it."

"I want to spend my life with you." She tells him. It's enough to get him to pull back, meet her eyes.

"What?"

"I want to spend my life with you." She repeats. "Like, this." She gestures to the space between them. "This is all I really need. You and me."

Percy shakes his head slowly. "You can't do that." He says quietly. Annabeth looks at him blankly. "You don't want to go to Greece and Italy. You want to get away from Camp."

"And if I do?"

"Annabeth, these people are your family." Percy says. " _Our_ family. We have to make things right. Besides, what about our city? You were going to design us a-"

"They're selfish and horrible people, Percy." She complains.

"Would you forgive yourself if you ran away and something were to happen to Clarisse?" Annabeth considers it. She's known Clarisse for so long- they'd been together since she was nine and Clarisse was ten. She couldn't bring herself to up and leave like that. She forgets how smart Percy is, sometimes. "Give them some time. They'll come back, I promise."

And so she does. They get ready and Percy heads to the sword fighting arena for a scheduled session with Jason, and Annabeth goes out to the lava wall. She climbs up easily enough, and from up there, she can see Percy and Jason fighting.

It used to be something they did for fun- Not many people were a match for them. Now, Jason does it so Percy has a way to vent out his frustrations. She decides to go sit out at the arena and watch them.

By the time she gets there, their sparring has turned into full-fledged combat. She can see Jason getting tired- He looks like he's about to break. Annabeth wants to call for them to stop, call it a day, but she remembers the last time she'd tried to interfere. Jason had swatted her aside and out of the arena easily, not paying her a second glance, but she'd spent two days nursing three broken bones and a deep cut down her shoulder.

She stays back, watching as their fight gets uglier, the boys get more and more aggressive until it's too hard to watch. By this time, she's peeking through her fingers, wanting to stop looking on but unable to. There's a loud _clang_! as Jason's sword goes flying out of his hand, and he's left standing sword's length from Percy, defenseless and chest heaving.

Their match is over, but Annabeth knows immediately that something's wrong. The storm in Percy's eyes haven't died down, his back is still tense. In a flash, she's on her feet, covering the arena in record time and flinging herself at Jason, sending them both tumbling onto the ground just as Percy swings Riptide. If Annabeth had hesitated for so much as a second, Percy would've sliced Jason's head clean off.

There's a stunned silence for a moment. Under her, Jason lets out a growl, shoving her off him like she weighed nothing. She can't think as she's sent flying out, and her back hits the bottom of the brick steps. The impact shakes her awake, her mind racing but her body in excruciating pain.

She looks up just in time to see Percy hovering in a windy storm, Jason scowling at him.

"Jason, stop it!" Annabeth calls, but it's too late, because Perc bares his teeth, and before she knows it, the ground under them is shaking violently.

"How dare you," Percy snarls, now back on the ground because of how distracted Jason is. "I am the son of the Earthshaker!"

People are starting to come into the arena, everyone's eyes on them. Annabeth suddenly feels too tired- she fights the urge to fall asleep. Travis Stoll is too close to them- he's going to get hurt. She gets to her feet, ignoring her brain lulling her to go back so sleep.

Her eyes are solely on Travis, which is why she doesn't notice until Percy's body flies past her, slamming into the brick wall. He crumples and lies still for long enough for Annabeth to get worried, and she's about to run over when he gets onto his feet, almost by magic. His expression is ugly- worse than a snarl or a scowl. He looks livid.

Again, before she can react, a jet of water, seemingly from nowhere hits Jason in the chest. Suddenly, the arena is blue of water and earthquakes and gusts of wind strong enough to knock over trees and sparks of electricity.

And Annabeth is in the middle of it all.

She can hear Chiron calling for them to stop, but neither of the boys seem to care. Percy now has the entire canoe lake swirling above him, and something in her gut tells her that Jason is in some grave danger.

"Jason, please, no!" She calls, throwing herself in the water's path as it shoots towards Jason.

What happens next is something she can't describe. The water lifts her off her feet, and all at once, she's both suffocating, and dizzy. Under her, she can hear people screaming, but she doesn't know why. She struggles to open her eyes, but all she sees is blue. And a world spinning too fast for her to comprehend.

She struggles against the water, but it's slowing her movements. She can't breathe. She wants to close her eyes. She needs air. Is anything worth the struggle anymore? Against her better judgement, she stops fighting and closes her eyes.

She's drowning, she realizes. By her boyfriend's hand. Somehow, she's okay with that. There's worse ways to go. She wonders if Percy would feel better once she was dead. A part of her knows he'd be devastated, but it's nothing he wouldn't get over. Maybe this is what's supposed to happen- For him to truly focus on controlling his powers.

It had to be her, she thinks. She's already forgiven Percy- How can she not? He'd changed her life, made it something worth living. She thinks it's only right that he puts a stop to it.

She thinks of how much she loves him, concentrates on it. She wants to hold on to all that's precious in her last moments before she joins the queue at Charon's ferry.

When her eyes flutter open, she's looking up at the infirmary ceiling, and her first thought is, death looks an awful lot like Camp. Her second is that Clarisse shouldn't be looking down at her, eyes red, mostly because Clarisse isn't dead.

And yet, here she is. She sits up a little straighter, and the daughter of Ares helps her. Every muscle in her body is screaming in protest. She ignores the pain. Her throat is parched and burning. She accepts the nectar Clarisse hands her, and downs it in one go.

"You're okay." Her friend says, voice shaky. "You scared the daylight out of everyone."

"Where's Percy?" Annabeth croaks. "Is he alright?"

"He's back in the Poseidon cabin." Clarisse says. Annabeth nods, not wanting to talk to her old friend anymore. "Annabeth, listen-" She starts, but her voice cracks. "You almost died today- I, uh, I'd hate to- I just wanted to say," She struggles.

Annabeth raises her brows, and Clarisse swallows visibly. It's the most fumbling Annabeth's ever seen her do, which is almost funny, because of how she always seems so sure of herself. Clarisse takes a deep breath.

"What I'm trying to say is, _Wise Girl_ , I was wrong to ever doubt your stupid boyfriend." Annabeth blinks at her, wondering exactly what happened. "I don't trust him, but you do, and I- You're a good girl. I just want to say, I should've always been by your side. Silena would've."

Annabeth closes her eyes. She wants to tell Clarisse that she's too late, that she's fine on her own, but it's the furthest from the truth. In reality, knowing there's one other person willing to help Percy out- It's more than she could ask for, and it's making her choke up. She reaches up and touches her own throat and flinches. She can bet there's a bruise somewhere there that the nectar still hasn't healed.

"That Roman kid's been dying to come in." Clarisse says gruffly. She raches out and gives Annabeth's shoulder a light pat. "I'm glad you're okay."

Jason does come in- to thank her for saving his life. Piper follows later, eyes red and face puffy.

"Do you still think I'm wrong?" She asks. Annabeth doesn't look her in the face- She couldn't.

Will Solace helps her out the rest of the day, and tells her she's good to go, and she heads straight to the Poseidon cabin to find it locked. She bangs her fists against it until she's bleeding, and that's what it takes for Percy to open the door to her.

"I'm a little upset you didn't come to check up on me." She says lightly, stepping in, but she looks up at Percy and falls silent.

His face is gaunt and a chalky white. His hair is standing up in all angles, the bags under his eyes looking even worse. That's not the worst part, though- He's got cuts and bruises all over his face, his bare chest and waist. Some of them are still bleeding- and he makes no attempt to fix it. His eyes are on her, and maybe that's the most unsettling part of him. His expression is sour, eyes a dark green, and she feels like he's looking into her soul.

He stays silent for a long time. Annabeth doesn't move. Finally, he croaks,

"Why?"

"Why what?" Annabeth fires back with a glare. She can't believe she went through all of that for him, and he had the gall to look upset with her?"

"Why did you step in for Jason? Why did you let me nearly ki-dr-" He can't bring himself to say the word, his voice breaks. "Why did you stand by my side this whole time, knowing they were right- I _am_ out of control. And why the _fuck_ did you come back here?"

Annabeth stares at him. Since they'd gotten out of Tartarus, she'd clung to him like he was her lifeline. He didn't have an issue then. They'd talked about their future and how happy they were going to be, together, and he didn't raise any concerns. She'd held his hand when he'd thrash around wildly in his sleep, and calm him down when he'd wake up crying for her. When he'd needed her, she'd lent him her unwavering support, and suddenly he has a problem with it?

"Because I love you." She says. It's so obvious- She can't believe they're having this conversation. "And I know you'll get better soon, and I want to be there for you, every step of the wa-"

"I don't." His voice is quiet, and he's looking at the ground when he says it, so Annabeth isn't even sure she heard him right. She looks at him.

"You don't what?"

He wears a pained expression when he looks up to meet her eye. He looks like he's trying really hard to hold back tears. He shakes his head a little, his Adam's apple bobbing. When he speaks again, he looks away from her, somewhere near their bed.

"I don't love you anymore, Annabeth." His voice breaks when he says her name.

Annabeth is thankful for the storm outside Camp as she walks. She has nothing on her except the clothes on her back. Somewhere behind her, a voice calls desperately,

"Annabeth! Hey, stop! Annabeth, stop!"

But she doesn't dare turn around. Clarisse finally catches up to her, well outside the Camp borders and in the pouring rain. She holds her arm and turns her around roughly.

"Where are you going?" Clarisse demands. She's glaring at her, but her expression falters when she notices the look on Annabeth's face. Annabeth is thankful for the rain because it covers her tears.

"Away."

"Why?"

"I never want to look at this place again." Annabeth tells her roughly, tugging her arm out of the other woman's grasp. "I _hate_ this place." She cries. "I never want to come back!"

Clarisse looks at her like she's been slapped in the face. Then her face hardens.

"Look, whatever you're throwing a fit about, forget it. Come back to the Big House. We'll talk tomorrow. Look at the storm- Maybe your boyfriend can take you-"

"Don't _ever_ call him that again!" Annabeth wails. She wants to sob, right here, in the mud and the cold. Clarisse looks confused, and then seems to figure out what might've happened. She does the last thing Annabeth expects- She pulls her in for a hug.

"I'll help you get through this." Clarisse tells her. "Please, just stay. Whatever the guy's done to you- I'll kill Jackson, I don't know, just- stay."

Annabeth can't believe she's hearing these words from Clarisse. They'd been close, sure, but after Percy had started to occupy all her time, they'd drifted apart. It almost scares her, how comforting she finds Clarisse's presence. She pulls away, shaking her head.

"Let me do this. I promise, I'll come back, if- If I feel like it."

The if hangs heavily between them, both of them knowing there's a slim chance they'll see each other again. But Clarisse nods and steps back. She doesn't look at Annabeth when she says goodbye or when she turns around and runs off up the hill.

With a deep breath, Annabeth hails the Gray Sisters taxi.


	2. ii Nico: The Coming

**Lots of questions about whether I'm continuing this fic, to which I want to say- This fic is my priority, but even so, updating it might be slow seeing that this silly writers' block seems to last forever.**

Nico's never really been to Washington before, but he doesn't really get to look around. Not when a good part of his shoulder's been bitten into and his ribs are quite possibly broken. Somewhere at the back of his mind he figures he's hurt his head, too, because blood is dripping down his hair and onto his face.

He's either hyper-aware of- or absolutely cannot feel- his body. The hammer of his heart against his chest is slowing alarmingly fast until it's so slow, he's pretty sure he should've died two beats ago. He's hunched over but just about makes out the number on the mailbox- Number 23. Wish a groan, he drags his feet up the little path to the door.

Maybe if he didn't feel like actual death, he'd have appreciated the pretty garden and the fairy lights hung on the trees. But he's on his fourth knock when the door swings open, and he's so relieved to see her, he gives up, falling promptly onto Annabeth, his eyes closing.

A nap sounds great, right now.

He dreams of Camp Half Blood. Clarisse and Will are standing on the hill by Thalia's pine tree, both of them in full battle gear.

"-do, if it does happen?" Will is asking. He looks worried, wringing his hands. Clarisse glares at the horizon, like she has an answer, but it makes her too angry.

"We have to put a stop to this madness." She growls, looking over at Will. "No matter what the cost."

"You aren't saying we actually _kill_ them?" Will asks with a frown. "Clarisse, they're demigods- Just like us."

"They're trying to break down everything we stand for." Clarisse says gruffly, and even in the dream, Nico can tell she's trying to hide her own emotions.

"The prophecy." Will says quietly. "Wisdom's _greatest_ child- You know who that is, don't you?"

"Prophecies are always more complicated than they seem, Solace, you of all people should know that. Your father is the god of this garbage, isn't he?" But Nico doesn't miss the way she flinches at his words. Her voice wavers slightly.

Will opens his mouth to say something, but the scene shifts.

Nico is in what looks like a really nice apartment with sleek, modern furniture. A girl with bright green hair is sat on the couch, three other demigods around her, but on their feet. She's listening to them, looking bored.

"Recruitment in this side of the country is slow." One of her lackeys is saying. "We have to leave, if the Romans caught wind of our presence-"

The green headed girl raises her hand, silencing him. "Shut up, Logan. We're staying here. It's a cozy apartment, make yourselves comfortable."

Logan looks like he's going to argue, but sits down, anyway. "Chloe, there's no Roman demigod willing to betray the legion, or whatever. We could be recruiting demigods elsewhere- You know Texas has-"

"Relax." Chloe drawls. "I've got this sorted."

But Nico never gets to hear her plan, because the image fades away, instead forming another familiar face.

Percy Jackson is standing at the edge of a beach that Nico can't recognize. He's got his hands in his pockets, wearing his camp t shirt despite how the wind is blowing hard enough to knock him over. He doesn't seem particularly bothered, and his eyes blaze as he looks out onto the horizon.

In his hand, he clutches something Nico can't see, his fist closing over it. Percy mutters under his breath, but his voice is carried away by the howling wind. He tosses whatever it is that he's holding out into the waves.

Nothing happens for a while. Percy looks defeated, but not surprised.

Then, there's a flash of light- Nico looks away instinctively. He doesn't know if you can combust in a dream, but he doesn't really want to risk it, either. When he looks up, a woman is standing in front of Percy, her arms crossed over her chest. She's beautiful, something powerful about her, and she looks exactly the way Annabeth does, sometimes.

"Do not waste your time praying to me, Percy Jackson." The goddess Athena says coldly. She holds her hand out, and Nico sees the moonlight glistening off a ring- A class ring that he'd seen before on Annabeth's Camp necklace. Athena drops it into Percy's hand. "For as long as she's my daughter, she will never forgive you." Her words are ominous, but there's no thunder booming, which probably means she isn't cursing Percy.

"Lady Athena, _please_ -" Percy's voice breaks. Nico hasn't seen him look so torn in years. "You have to trust me. Ann- She's in trouble. They're going after her."

Athena's glare is so cold, it could freeze hell over. "You may have broken her heart, but she's got a brain." She says. "Letting that ship sail was the wisest decision you've made, Jackson. You've earned my respect. Don't make me regret that."

Another blinding flash of light, but this time, when Nico opens his eyes, he's staring up at a white ceiling. He tries to move, and lets out a groan in pain. His body still hurts, but it's not as bad.

"Nico?" A voice calls from somewhere around him. "Give me one second, I'll be there!"

Nico realizes now that he's on a red couch. He figures Annabeth could only move him so far in his previous state. Her face pops into view. She smiles a little at him, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

He wonders what she sees when she looks at him. He sees worry around her eyes and loneliness in the way her mouth turns downward. Looking at her now reminds him how much he's actually missed having her around.

Before things turned sour for her, the two of them had been on good terms. She was smart- even for a daughter of Athena- and conversation between them had always flown relatively easily. She was kind, and helpful, and she'd been there to balance out Percy. Nico had looked up to her for as long as he could remember.

At twelve, if he had to put his life in someone else's hands, he'd have left it with her. There wasn't many others quite like Annabeth Chase.

"How are you doing?" She asks, reaching out and pressing her hand against his forehead. Her touch is cool against his skin. "Yeah, you'll need another square." She says, reaching over his head and getting him some ambrosia.

"I don't know how to thank you." Nico croaks. Annabeth doesn't smile, or even respond. She looks at the ground. "I'm sorry, about barging into your house. I-"

"You tracked me down." Annabeth says. She doesn't sound angry, or upset- Just tired. "You came out here to find me, but you ran into monsters."

"That's- Exactly it." Nico agrees. He sits up, ignoring how it makes him dizzy. Annabeth let out a sigh and shakes her head.

"I'm not coming back to Camp with you." She tells him and purses her lips, like she's convincing herself more than him. "I'm sorry. You can stay for as long as you'd like, but I've got to get to work early tomorrow, so I'm gonna crash."

She doesn't wait for a response, which is as well, because he doesn't have one. She gets to her feet and points to an oak door.

"That room's empty and I've done it up if you'd like to stay there. Or stay on the couch, up to you. That's the kitchen," She gestures. "And this is my room. I'll uh, catch you later."

She leaves without so much as a glance at him. His first reaction is to be annoyed by her behavior, of course, but he realizes almost instantly what she's going through- She's in shock. He'd had days to prepare to see her again, he'd gone out looking for her. She had no idea, that now, six years after she left Camp Half Blood mysteriously one night, her past would actually catch up to her.

He lets out a sigh, getting to his feet and making his way to the kitchen. He turns on the tap and fetches the last of his drachmas.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Will Solace at Camp Half Blood!" He says, tossing the gold coin.

The air around him shimmers until he's standing in the strawberry field. Will is in armor, like in his dream, but his posture is significantly more relaxed as he chats easily with Katie Gardner.

"Will, hey!" He calls. Will looks up at him, smile widening and eyes shining. Nico hasn't actually seen him in eight days, and his heart twists a little at the sight.

"Nico, what are you doing? Where are you? Thank gods you're alright!" He cries. Nico nods.

"I'm okay, yeah. I'm in Washington right now."

"D.C?"

"No, the state." Nico says. "Listen, point is, I've found-" He stops when he realizes Katie's also listening to them, although she looks really awkward. He looks around Annabeth's kitchen. "Uh, I've found. Um, maple syrup." He has no idea what to say or how to recover from this.

Will blinks at him and cocks his head to the side. "Like in a bottle, or did just on-?"

Nico glares at him, hoping he'd understand. Couples who have been together for a long time tend to develop telepathic relations, but Will is still thick and completely unreceptive to any of Nico's thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Your favorite brand of _maple syrup_. You know, the one I had to look for through the _entire country_." He emphasizes. Thankfully, Will's eyes widen in understanding.

"Oh! You mean- Oh you've found the maple syrup!" He cries. He looks frantically over his shoulder. "I need to find Percy- He had a dream, -"

"No!" Nico cries. "Don't- don't tell anyone about it, okay? Just not yet. I still uh- I still may not be able to bring back enough, you know, for everyone- I mean I may not be able to bring back maple syrup." He repeats, hoping Will gets it.

Will seems to understand, but doesn't seem surprised. He nods. "I've been, associating," He says after a pause. "With that particular brand for years now. I wouldn't expect it would be easy to- transport."

Nico studies his boyfriend's face. There's clearly a lot of pressure on him right now, but when he'd figured out Nico had found Annabeth, he swears he sees a part of him somehow relax. Even before Nico set out, Will had insisted that Annabeth played a big role in the prophecy- Which is why they'd decided to keep it as much a secret as possible. The only people who knew they were out looking for her were the two of them and Percy.

Katie seems to get the hint, and leaves, looking confused and a little dazed. Will watches her over his shoulder and turns back to Nico.

"You have to try harder." He says, frowning at the strawberries on the ground.

"She seems really shaken, I may actually not be able to-"

"You know why neither Percy nor I could come with you, Nico?" Will asks, crossing his arms over his chest. Nico cocks his head. He'd volunteered to look for Annabeth, and it only now occurs to him that it's weird that he had to do it on his own.

"Why?"

"Because Percy would drive her further off," Will says. "And I would, at best, be able to get her to smile at the sight of me. We are, in a way, her worst memories of Camp. You and Annabeth have always had a different kind of relationship."

"Yeah," Nico scoffs. " _Strained_."

"She convinced you to come back once." Will says quietly. "I think I was hoping, when the time came, you'd be able to do the same for her."

Nico doesn't get to reply to that because Will's image fades away, and he realizes he's completely out of drachmas, so he's left standing alone in a beautiful island kitchen. He takes a moment to look around Annabeth's house. The furniture is modern, and the way it's been fashioned seems painfully familiar, even though he can't place it.

He wanders for a little, mulling over his boyfriend's words, and finds himself standing in front of a closed door. He doesn't know how, he he's sure Annabeth is behind it, and he's willing to bet she isn't asleep.

Nico takes the chance, reaching out and opening the door.

She's sitting on her bed, knees drawn to her chest and arms holding them there. She doesn't react to him at all, staring intensely at where the wall meets the floor in front of her. The sight almost makes him want to leave, but he forces his feet forward.

"Had a feeling you'd come." Annabeth says finally, when he reaches the side of her bed. He takes this as an invitation to sit down opposite her.

"Had a feeling you'd be awake."

Annabeth looks up at him, eyes rimmed red.

"Why did you come here?" She asks him, voice so soft and vulnerable, Nico almost caves and tells her everything that's happening. Everyone told Annabeth all the information they had- She used to be their voice of reason, the one who remained calm at all times. The last time he'd seen her look so miserable and confused was when Percy went missing. He'd tried to avoid her because seeing her in so much pain while he'd known exactly what was going on- it felt like a knife to the chest.

"You said it yourself. I tracked you down so I could take you back to Camp Half Blood." Nico says. He reaches his hand out, but she doesn't take it, which somehow makes him more comfortable. "And I have a feeling you may know something I don't about all the confusion."

Annabeth looks away from him.

"I'm not coming back." She says, pressing her lips together. "I'm sorry, Nico, but I can't. It's too much for me."

"What did you dream?" Nico pushes. Annabeth shakes her head. Nico thinks of Will's words. "How've you been?" He asks instead. Annabeth looks up at him with a frown.

"What?"

"How are you? Your house is beautiful. Did you go to college? Tell me about your life." Nico says. "The mortal one- the one you chose." He even forces a smile.

Annabeth looks at him doubtfully, like she's trying to figure out his plan, and finally gives up.

"Thanks. I- Um. I haven't been here long- Just a couple of months. I went away to college in Austria, actually. I've only been back in the states for a year- Worked in Los Angeles up until September, before I moved out here. It's only been two months, so I don't know many people." She says. Her voice is monotonous, like she's rehearsed this. She doesn't stutter or pause, and she definitely doesn't make any eye contact with him.

"So you're an architect?" He asks. To his surprise, Annabeth shakes her head. She has the smallest smile on her lips. It somehow makes Nico feel a little closer to home.

"I went to the University of Music and Performing Arts," She says slowly. "In Vienna. I'm a dancer, now."

Nico gapes at her. He knew she spent a good deal of her time at Camp in the studio, but he'd never actually gone in there before. Not many had, really- Not even Will, or even Percy. He'd asked her what she did in there for so long, once, and she'd only shrugged her shoulders and said it helped her relax and focus. He'd assumed she was doing yoga, or pilates.

"You _dance_?" He asks incredulously. How much of Annabeth Chase did he actually even know?

She lets out a laugh, then. It's small but light and feels like a breath of fresh, cool air. Nico can't help the smile growing on his face. Since he'd started dating Will, smiling came almost too easily to him- And he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"I do- And now I do it professionally." Annabeth nods with a sniff.

"What happened to architecture? Building something permanent? What did you do with the Annabeth I know?" He asks with a slight laugh.

"Nothing in life is permanent." Annabeth is still smiling, but her words are so sad. Nico sees a girl who's really, truly lost herself somewhere along the way. His mouth tastes sour. She shrugs. "Dancing makes me happy, so I figured, why not?"

"Are you dating someone?" Nico asks. He can't stand to hear her words, it's too unlike anything she'd have ever said six years ago. It's like he's looking at a familiar face and talking to a whole new person. He wonders if this is what Annabeth went through when Luke became Kronos. It's a dirty, guilty feeling.

Annabeth shakes her head, and Nico isn't sure why it makes him slightly relieved. He doesn't actually care who she's seeing.

"No, not as of now. Are you-?"

"Yeah. Still with Will. We're good. He sends his love, by the way."

Annabeth's lips tug up in a smile at the mention of his boyfriend. The guy tended to have an effect on everyone he touched- Which is one of the reasons Nico loves him, if he's being honest. There's a silence until Nico decides to break it.

"Do you like living here?" He asks. Annabeth shrugs, but doesn't answer, so he tries to push. "Met your dad lately?"

"No…" Her voice trails off.

"Annabeth," Nico takes a breath. She looks up and meets his gaze, her eyes the size of plates. "Does this feel like home?" He asks. She frowns, so he rewords himself. "Are you happy here?"

"Wha- Sure I am." She says miserably.

Nico starts talking, his words surprising himself.

"I ran away from Camp once. I don't know if you remember." She smiles like she does. "I felt like I didn't belong. I still do, sometimes- But then I went away and realized how I was even more of an outsider, you know?" He pauses. He can see Annabeth shutting off, so he tries desperately to get as many words through before she's completely drifted off.

"Suppose it's in the name, isn't it? Demigod. Half god, half human- Never fit in either world, really. But there's more people like you and me. We've made our own safe haven. Invented a world of misfits, for the in-between. Like New Rome." He suggests. "Like Camp. It's home, isn't it?"

Annabeth doesn't say anything. She stares at the wall behind him again, and he figures he's lost her. He gets to his feet, pausing for a moment.

"I understand that you were hurting, Annabeth, but- Fuck, you've done some damage back at home. I was hoping you'd be brave enough to own up to that."

"Like what?" She asks, but her voice is hard. "What _damage_?"

"Thalia blamed Percy for you leaving. They argued and nearly ruined the whole Camp." He tells her quietly. "The Stolls absolutely don't associate with the Athena kids- Travis told Will he's never felt more betrayed. It's driven a rift between most campers. Malcolm- Oh. Malcolm, he was under so much pressure when you pulled your stunt."

"Nobody cared about me when I left." Annabeth laughs humorlessly.

"I know one person who did." He tells her. She rolls her eyes, and in the dull yellow light, it strikes Nico how beautiful she is.

"Clarisse? She knew I'd be fine."

"Me."

Annabeth looks up at him, brows pulled together. A small part of him is proud for taking her by surprise. That can't be something that happens often.

"You were my hero." He shakes his head. "Percy was around, sure." He ignores the way she flinches at the sound of his name every time. He needs her to pull herself together and do what's best for their kind. "But you- You were so… Human. I've looked up to you for as long as I can remember, and of all the people you hurt when you vanished, I think you damn near crushed my heart."

She cocks her head, tears welling in her eyes.

"You were my friend, Annabeth. I trusted you. I leave tomorrow- Camp Half Blood needs me. Us, really, but whether you come along is up to you."

He leaves her in her room then, closing the door softly behind him.


	3. iii Percy: Calm

Percy wakes up to the sound of someone banging heavily on his cabin door. He's still groggy and half asleep, despite the sunlight poring through his windows, but he picks up Riptide and answers the door carefully. It's a tense time for the Camp, what with an army of demigods wanting to attack them and all, so you really can never be too careful.

The door swings open to reveal Will, beaming brightly at him.

"What are you doing out here, Solace?" Percy yawns. He stretches his arms out, popping some of the muscles in his back. Will glances over his shoulder to make sure nobody's listening, and then leans forward.

"They're almost here." He whispers.

Percy doesn't speak for a moment. Then he reaches out and pulls Will into his cabin, slamming it shut behind him. Once inside, he crosses his arms over his chest.

"When will they be here? We can't let _anyone_ find out." He says pointedly. Nico could keep a secret, sure, but Will was a bit more difficult like that. He has the decency to blush.

"I haven't told anyone, okay? Relax." He says. "I don't know, Nico IM-ed me just now saying they were in Ottawa."

Percy stares at him for a moment. Will shrugs.

"Do you care to explain why Nico's bringing her through _Canada_?" He asks incredulously. "That wasn't a part of the plan."

Will looks uncomfortable, and shuffles his feet. Percy doesn't like that behavior- Something had gone wrong, and he was too afraid of Percy to say. It makes him want to slice Riptide through something. He takes a deep breath, and thinks of all the support he'd had from Clarisse. He was over the days when he lashed out in anger.

"Will," He says as calmly as he can. "Is something- Is there a reason we aren't sticking to the plan?"

"Actually, uh, I- Nico, actually, said, funnily enough that-" Percy cuts him off with a look. Will swallows visibly. "From what I know, Annabeth is, uh… Poisoned."

" _Poisoned_?" Percy repeats. His mind is already averaging five hundred thoughts a second. " _Annabeth_ , the one we need here for the prophecy, the one who's going to help decide the fate of the gods- _My_ -" He catches himself. Why would that come out after so many years? " _That_ Annabeth is poisoned?"

"Scorpion sting." Will says urgently. "But don't worry, she's got about six hours! And once she's here, I'll fix her up in no time!" He tries for a smile, but it melts under Percy's withering gaze.

"She _is_ going to live." It's an order. She has to. The lines of the prophecy weren't particularly clear, as always, but there was a line that he's sure is about him. There's not much he knows about the future, but he'll be damned if Annabeth goes down with him.

Clarisse has said more than once that what he feels for Annabeth is unhealthy, but he's long since begun to ignore it. He's over her, he'll tell anyone who asks. Besides, who would question that? He's got that thing with Drew Tanaka- and she's blabbed to anybody who'd listen, so it's no big secret. And in a way, he thinks he has moved on.

She'd left six years ago, and he'd not once believed it was a mistake. He'd accepted it, and hoped he'd never have to see her again. He'd hoped she'd make it far enough to keep her safe. If this ridiculous new prophecy hadn't thrown a wench in his plans, he might've even fooled himself to believe he didn't love her anymore.

But a love like what he had for Annabeth isn't so easy to forget, to leave behind. He'd have been _fine_ , gods damn it, if the Fates had just kept their big mouths shut.

They hadn't, and then the Oracle jumped into the action and Apollo not far behind, and suddenly, Percy was in the eye of the storm, only this time, he wasn't the one controlling it. His stomach churns nervously, knowing that any minute in the next six hours, Nico was going to come back to Camp with _Annabeth_ by his side.

"Let's get breakfast." He decides, flinging his arm around Will's shoulders, who looks a little startled, but lets him lead them to the dining pavilion anyway.

Breakfast, for Percy, is two hard boiled eggs, baked beans and hash browns, some bacon, three pancakes with maple syrup, all downed with a tall glass of orange juice. Will watches him eat with a fascinated look.

"What?" He asks. He's freaking out, and he's gotten bigger- He needs the nutrition.

"You're- Amazing." Will says, staring at his plate.

"Excuse me," Percy scoffs. "But if you worked out as much as I did, you'd need this too-" He starts, but Will already looks bored of him.

"I'm nervous about this whole sneaking thing." He confesses. "I normally wouldn't be, but it's just that because Nico's involved, too-"

"You're protective of him." Percy finishes for him. He shrugs. "I get it. I used to date _Annabeth_ , man- Have you seen the kind of trouble she gets into?"

Will offers him a small smile. "Suppose she could say the same about you."

"She could, but that's not the point." Percy allows. "You're both adults- Nico chose to do this with us. You're just going to have to trust that he can take care of himself."

There's a silence. Then suddenly, Will jumps to his feet, staring at something behind Percy, who whips his head around so fast, it cracks his neck.

"Ow." He mutters as his eyes focus on the two figures on the top of Half-Blood Hill. One is very clearly leaning against the taller one. None of the other campers seem to have noticed them, but Percy figures they have about two minutes, at best, before Clarisse, or Drew catch wind of them.

They've both been extremely suspicious of Percy since they'd figured on their own that he was hiding something from them. Clarisse had even deduced that Nico's sudden disappearance had something to do with it. They were both smart, in their own right, which only made the boys' jobs that much harder.

Percy doesn't think as he takes off, running up the hill and meeting Nico halfway. Annabeth is slumped against him, her skin a sickly blue and her head lolling, giving him a view of nothing but her blonde hair, matted in dust and blood.

"What the fuck happened to her?" Percy demands. Nico looks beaten up as well- Bruises on his cheeks and a cut on his arm, but it didn't look too bad.

"Scorpions. She needs help."

"We can't take her to the Infirmary." Percy realizes. Nobody can find out they've smuggled her in. Annabeth lets out a groan and slumps further forward so she's close to face planting the ground. Percy reaches out and grabs her by the arm, pulling her up to her feet. He tries to gather her in his arms, but Nico tugs her back and glares at Percy. He looks almost- territorial?

"Man, I'm bigger than you. Let go of her and I'll get her back to the Poseidon cabin. Will can fix her up."

"Yeah, leave her in your cabin, alone?" Nico scoffs. "Nice try. La Rue and Tanaka are watching you like a hawk. She's coming with me to my cabin."

"The cabin of the god of death?" Percy asks. "With her looking like this? Yeah, fat chance-"

"We have to hurry, people will start noticing-" Nico cuts him off.

"Then think of a way to drag a completely limp human body along Camp without getting any attention." Percy snaps back.

"You guys are both idiots." Will says from behind him. He pulls out a blue Yankees cap from his back pocket. Percy stares at it. He'd had it on his coat hooks in his cabin for ages- he'd completely forgotten about it.

Will sends both of them a glare before fixing it onto Annabeth's hanging head. Immediately, she shimmers and disappears from sight, though Percy can still feel her weight on his arm. He scoops her up without waiting for Nico's response, slinging her over his shoulder and hoping he isn't hurting her or touching her inappropriately.

"Okay, now, follow me." Will says, marching off towards the woods.

" _No way_ are you fixing her in the woods." Percy protests.

"Are you joking, Solace? Think of all the infections-" Nico argues.

Will only gestures for them to follow and keeps forging on, so they do, grumbling about how he's lost it the entire way. Will leads them straight to Rachel's cave, which seems both, ridiculous and smart at the same time. All this time, Percy hadn't thought to include Rachel in his plans- he feels a little guilty now, but she'd just slipped his mind.

"Rachel!" He calls when they enter the cave. He sets Annabeth down on Rachel's currently unoccupied bed and feels around to pull the cap off her head. She shimmers back into view, and Percy gets a good look at her face. He wishes he hadn't, though, because her lips are turning black and her skin blue and it makes him sick.

He steps away from her, and Will takes his place immediately rifling through his supplies. Rachel comes out of her little cave toilet, then, and takes in the sight of Will healing a gross looking Annabeth, Nico glaring at Percy, who looks like he's going to be sick himself. Then she crosses her arms over her chest.

"Okay, I've missed something." She says finally. She turns to Percy.

"You must have figured we'd bring Annabeth back here, right?" He asks. Rachel looks like she's going to argue, but nods with a sigh.

"I know she plays some kind of role in this whole fiasco." She admits. "But you should definitely start with why she's _blue_."

"Scorpion poisoning." Nico answers. He slides down onto one of the little seats in Rachel's room, if it can be called that. Percy glances over at him- he looks exhausted.

"Tell us everything that happened." Rachel insists, dragging up a stool and sitting down. Percy stands over them awkwardly for a second before deciding he's going to have to listen to this, so he leans against the wall and slips onto the floor.

So he does. He tells them about his quest since leaving Camp- how he'd started traveling south, like the prophecy had suggested, and how he'd met Moros, god of Doom, who eventually led Nico right to Annabeth's doorstep in a series of twisted games that made Percy's blood run cold. He had next to no respect for most of the campers around him, but even he had to admit the things Nico described seemed to be well out of line.

God of _Doom_? According to what Nico had said, Doom was on their side in this war- Which confuses Percy, because while he appreciates the god's want to help- Is having doom on your side really a good thing?

"-And she wasn't actually going to come back, but then-" Nico frowns, like his story confuses him. "Annabeth said that she hadn't been attacked in years, not since she'd left Camp. I don't know, maybe it's just bad luck, but the next morning there was a hydra wrecking her backyard. We just about escaped, luckily, she's in good shape- but well out of practice." He continues, exchanging a look with Rachel.

Everyone does that, at Camp. Tries to communicate without Percy. It used to drive him nuts, but he's stopped caring now. He doesn't need them- he'd learned that lesson a while ago.

"Right." Nico says, snapping out of it. "Anyway, we shadow traveled most of the way like in the plan," his gaze flickers to Percy. "But I had to improvise when we ran into some trouble in North Dakota. Army of non-believers. They were vicious. I didn't want to actually fight them, you know, so we headed up north, finished the rest of our journey in Canada. It was so much easier up there- Only ran into one cyclops in Winnipeg, but Annabeth took him down. But I think Chloe Forsyth was onto us, because we ran into Dominic and Andrew and a bunch of other demigods. Their army's grown at least three-fold." Nico continues, frown deepening. "They're the ones who had the scorpions."

"Right. First thing tomorrow, Chase starts training." Percy decides. He glares at Rachel and Nico, daring them to argue. They look worried, but don't utter a word. That's what he thought. Will, who's somewhere behind them clears his throat.

"I don't think you get to decide things like that, Percy. She needs rest."

"And rest, she'll have, today." Percy pushes. "We don't have much time. The winter solstice is in a week. If it does come down to a battle- I got stung by a scorpion when I was _twelve_. I think we'll need her to fight a little better than a twelve year old boy, right?"

"The scorpion was my fault." Nico sighs. "She saved my life. Don't be so hard on her."

"Explain me this, son of Hades. How does one save lives if they're _dead_?" He growls.

He leaves Rachel's cave then, and nobody makes any attempt to stop him.

Percy's still taking deep breaths to calm down when he runs into Clarisse in the woods. She waves her spear at him with a growl.

"I'll clean slice your face off!" She yells. Percy laughs a little.

"Learn some biology, Clarisse. Won't hurt."

The daughter of Ares seems to recognize him, because she lowers her spear and her frown fades a little.

"What are you doing out here?" She demands. Percy leans against a tree and smirks at her.

"What are you doing?" He counters. Clarisse looks like she's going to argue but lets out an angry huff.

"Patrol duty. Like you should have been doing two hours ago. Where _were_ you?"

Percy shrugs.

"Didn't feel like it."

Clarisse squares her jaw and looks at him. He stares pointedly at the ground. Clarisse is one of the only people who isn't afraid of him- Which means she'll call him out for his bullshit when she feels like it. He figures he's going to have to tell her about Annabeth eventually, but he'll put it off for as long as he can.

"Really?" She asks slowly, eyes narrowing. "In that case, you can come with me to Rachel's den."

"Don't see why I should."

"If you're not hiding anything, you wouldn't care if I retraced your footsteps."

"You don't know where I came from." Percy counters, crossing his arms over his chest lightly. Clarisse smiles almost cruelly at him. She points to the ground below him.

"You just walked in wet mud, Jackson."

"Fine." He rolls his eyes. "Rachel and I… are sort of in a relationship." He tells her.

"A relationship?" Clarisse barks out a laugh. "Yeah, okay. You, in a relationship. Sure."

"A sexual relationship." He clarifies.

"You already have Drew."

"You can't honestly tell me you thought Drew could hold my attention forever?" He lets out a harsh laugh. "You're even dumber than you look, La Rue, and that's saying something."

Clarisse lets out a sigh, not taking his bait, but also seemingly uninterested.

"Fine. _You_ fuck the Oracle. I get one bad prophecy coming my way and I'll blame it on you." She warns. "Now move. I have patrolling to do."

"I'll come with you." Percy offers, following her.

He doesn't want to go back to his cabin yet. He doesn't think he can handle being on his own- Not with all the new information Nico's given him.

The Camp is in deep trouble right now. A bunch of older campers, now called the non-believers, came to the conclusion that it was possible to kill gods- By just refusing to believe in them (and hence, the name). Fed up with how they never got recognition for anything they'd done, they'd formed an army, led by Chloe Forsyth, daughter of Aphrodite. Percy had initially thought they were harmless- an idiotic idea, truly, but they'd somehow managed to actually weaken Olympus itself.

If they were starting to recruit monsters, now- Percy doesn't like where that's going. Then three Olympians had visited Percy on their own accord, first Apollo, who'd delivered the prophecy that turned his world upside down. Hermes spoke to Percy privately not long after, mostly about how his pet snakes want rats, but also about how he's almost sure it was a repeat of the whole Luke fiasco eight years ago.

Then Athena had swung into the picture, only to tell him to stay away from her daughter, which is idiotic, because almost everyone was convinced Annabeth was mentioned in the prophecy.

"Are you nervous?" Percy asks. He looks over at Clarisse, but she doesn't meet his gaze.

"No." She says gruffly. She keeps up the pretense for exactly one second. She deflates. "Of _course_ I am. Nothing about it makes sense. _Demigod army rise over all_." She recites under her breath. " _Answer wisdom's greatest child's silent call_."

"Think we've figured the first bit out." Percy says. " _Come face to face with changing times_ ," He continues. " _As the savior drowns in his crimes_." The words are thick on his tongue. That has to do with him, he _knows_ it- Call it sixth sense.

"The oracle sure is into bad rhymes." Clarisse says before laughing a little. "Hey look- I did, too."

" _Two brave hearts to the battle, lost_." Percy continues. " _Sanity returned but at a heavy cost_."

"That's good news though, right?" Clarisse asks. She looks like she's desperate for any kind of good news. "Sanity returned. That means the gods' powers?"

"I would assume that's what it is, sure." Percy agrees, mostly because he can't offer any better explanation. "At what cost, though?"

"We can't really dwell on that." Clarisse says. "Two hearts- That means only two people die, right? I mean, not to sound cynical, but that's-"

"We need Annabeth." Percy says finally. He's tired of this worrying. He's never seen Clarisse look so upset. She's his friend, in some twisted way, and it sucks to see her like this.

"No we _don't_. It could have been taking about that Roman girl. Rhianna? Rhinoceros?"

"You _know_ it's Reyna." Percy tells her. Clarisse shrugs. The two of them had butted heads since the day they met, which came as a surprise to nobody.

"Her mom is one of those wisdom goddesses, isn't she?" She shifts her spear to her other hand.

Percy is silent for a minute. "What did Annabeth say to you, anyway?" He asks. They've reached camp border, and Clarisse sits down on a large flat rock. Percy joins her, folding his legs under him,

She doesn't respond immediately, staring out at the green valleys and beautiful buildings below them. Moments pass.

"I was ten when I came into Camp." She says through gritted teeth. "I was smaller than most of the other kids- And the Ares cabin is great at hazing."

"I'll say." Percy shrugs. Clarisse gives him a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes, but he's happy she isn't frowning.

"Yeah, well you didn't have to spend every waking minute with them. They were big and strong and so, so arrogant." She says. "Most of them are dead now, and I can't honestly say I miss them. They made my life absolute hell. I wasn't great with a sword- They didn't waste time teaching me, you know?"

Percy remembers being seven years old and crying to his mom about the bullies in school. She'd stroked his hair back and kissed his nose. 'Most bullies have been bullied themselves in the past.', she'd told him. He remembers not understanding- And now, sitting with Clarisse, he wonders if that's what he'd done to Camp as well.

"Annabeth- She was a year younger than me, but so much better trained. Skilled, disciplined. She had the system down- Nobody _ever_ picked on her. It's because anyone who laid a finger on her would've faced Luke's wrath, sure, but she did well on her own. I don't know how it happened- One day we didn't know each other, and the next, we were friends." Clarisse continues. Her voice is thick, but her face blank. "She taught me how to fight with a blade. Told the others to back off. She helped me out, you know, and we grew close. We had our own friends, sure, but I'd always have her back, and her, me."

"I didn't realize." Percy says. "You know, when I first came into Camp. Figured you put up with each other."

Clarisse grunts. "She was so annoying, could anyone truly put up with her? Anyway, three years later, when I was thirteen, you came along." She continues. "And that was it for Annabeth. She spent every waking minute with you- We grew apart. You and Grover became her world. And that was cool, because it's natural, right? We still sparred, practiced and talked."

Travis Stoll had once told Percy that Annabeth stopped hanging out with him as much when he was around. He'd laughed it off then, but now he wonders exactly how much truth there was to it.

"Percy for so long, I knew that whatever happened, Annabeth was there for me. She wasn't my best friend, but I'd easily bet my life on her being by my side, you know?"

"She was that person for a lot of us." Percy agrees.

"When she left, she said she wanted nothing to do with Camp." Clarisse continues. "It's a little hard, you know, to have to hear that. I just- Look, Percy," He knows she's being serious when she's using his name, "I don't know what happened between the two of you- But your obsessing over her is unhealthy. She's gone from our lives, maybe for the better."

Percy looks at her, but she doesn't meet his gaze. She's right. He's the one who broke her heart. He's the one who made her leave. He should have moved on with his own life, but for some reason he's been stuck at the exact same position he was in six years ago. Still hopelessly in love with her and willing to follow her to the moon.

"I may still lov-" He starts, but he's unable to finish.

"Yeah, no shit." Clarisse says with a roll of her eyes. "Maybe it's time you start actually dating people instead of whatever destructive arrangement you have with Drew?"

"Who in this whole godforsaken place would want to date me." Percy says drily.

"A lot of girls." Clarisse says with a smug smile. Percy rolls his eyes.

"Anyone who wants to date me without being intimidated?" He asks again. Clarisse doesn't respond.

They watch over the city of Póli Ton Oneíron under them. He could hear children screaming in glee and people laughing and he imagines families living their lives in safety. Malcolm and Leo had been the ones to really put in the most work, based on designs that Annabeth had left behind. She'd been about sixty percent through, so the guys had worked for months on end trying to finish up her pet project. One year later, they'd started work, and with some help from the gods, here was their own little City of Dreams- Like what Annabeth had named it in her blueprints.

Percy has a house somewhere there- All demigods who were legal adults at the time had been made one. He's never been there, much preferring to remain at Camp. He's never actually been inside the city once it was built. It was Annabeth's city- And she'd never been able to see it. He felt like he didn't deserve to be a part of that dream.

"Percy!" A voice calls behind him. He turns around to see Will standing a few meters away from. He waves him over. "Come on, Annab-" He stops when he notices Clarisse.

Percy chances a look at her, heart sinking. He sees the gears turning in her head and her eyes widening.

"Were you, by chance, going to say the word _Annabeth_ , William?' She asks slowly.

"Annabella…" Will says, staring at his feet. "Thorne. She's on TV at the Big House, and I know Percy really likes her."

"Bella Thorne?" Clarisse scoffs. Then she reaches out and grabs Percy's shirt. She narrows her eyes at him. "Now, Perseus, tell me." She says calmly. "Is there anything you would like to tell me before I find out anyway and have your head?"

"Nico went out looking for Annabeth and she's come back to save Camp and she got stung by a scorpion and nearly died but she's awake now." Will fills in. He looks impatient. "Look, Clarisse, if you want to throw a fit, that's fine, but we have to go. She has no energy left and we have a lot to discuss with her."

"But you remember what we agreed on, Will?" Percy asks pointedly. Will nods and looks over at Clarisse.

"No reciting the prophecy to her."

"What kind of stupid rule is that? She's going to want to know-" Clarisse starts, crossing her arms over her chest. She's so stubborn, Percy almost forgot how frustrating it was to deal with her.

"It's just a thought I had." He says. "The prophecy says face to face with times." He says slowly.

"So? We knew this already."

"You know who the titan of Time is, right?" Percy asks. "And if it's got anything to do with Luke- I just don't want to freak her out, alright? Just keep your mouth shut and nobody can know about this."

"You think the prophecy involves _Kronos_?"


	4. iv Annabeth: Settle In

**A/N: Just wanted to ackowledge one of the comments about my posting schedule and let you know- I don't have one. I write when I can and when I feel like, I'm sorry! Also nothing hlps get over writer's blocks the way reviews do, so please carry o leaving them thank you! xox**

Percy slashes Riptide behind him easily, grazing Annabeth lightly on her shoulder-blade. She grinds her teeth, more annoyed than hurt. Percy makes a _tsk-tsk_ sound.

"Come on then, Chase." He examines his nails. She wants to smack him in the face.

"That was unfair." She complains. "You caught me off guard-"

"Yeah, you're right. If only I could be polite- Like a hydra or the Minotaur, perhaps?" He taunts with a roll of his eyes. Annabeth clenches her jaw and glares at him.

"I'm a little out of practice. Give me some time." She sighs, but Percy's already getting ready to lunge at her. Her shoulder throbs lightly, but it seems to have released enough dopamine to put her mind into overdrive.

She holds out her sword- Drakon bone- just in time to block Riptide. With an easy maneuver Luke had taught her almost twenty years ago, she sweeps Percy's sword off of her, freeing the both of them. In the split second that it takes for him to recover, she darts forward, sword arcing down and stabbing him lightly just above his chest, near the collarbone, and using _that_ shock to knock Riptide out of his hand.

It clatters to the ground loudly, and Percy doesn't move to pick it up. It doesn't even reappear in his pocket in pen form. It just lies there, and Percy just stares at her with wonder. Annabeth's face heats up- She doesn't like the look he's giving her. It's too sincere and far too painful to see. She pushes her chin out and nods at the fallen blade.

"Pick it up, Jackson." She says, pointedly avoiding his gaze. "Round three's on me."

But Percy is still watching her with an intensity that makes her stomach feel like it's on fire. She swallows thickly.

"Don't make me repeat myself, I said let's _go_."

"I'm tired." Percy declares, finally breaking his gaze. "And I'm wounded." He looks down at his chest, where there's not more than three little drops of blood. "I'm going to the Infirmary. Nico can practice with you."

He offers no more explanation and leaves the arena. Riptide shimmers a moment later and disappears into thin air. Annabeth doesn't know what she's done to offend him, but she doesn't let herself worry about it.

She's been doing that a lot these days- Worrying about Percy, or his feelings. Seeing him again made her heart sore- and she'd been so careful around him, like walking on egg shells. She tried to spend as little time with him as she could, because everything about him was too painful to have to see.

He'd changed so much since the last time she'd seen him. He'd bulked up a bit, his hair was shorter and he stood taller and more confident. His eyes shone and he'd smile when he spoke to Clarisse- He looked so much like the old Percy, the one she'd fallen head over heels in love with, and she had no part in his recovery. Her leaving, she thinks sadly, had probably been the best thing to happen to him.

Most of the other campers, who'd now been let in on the big secret, tended to steer clear of her. A lot of them were much younger than her, which made her feel a little strange, but she knew that most of the demigods her age lived in the city- Póli Ton Oneíron.

There's another thought that made her insides curl up into a big ball of guilt- They'd built the city. _Her_ city. Malcolm and Leo had made her dreams a reality, and she wasn't even a part of it. She can't decide if she likes seeing all her designs, now full structures in front of her.

Nico told her he'd insisted they build a house for her, but Clarisse had been the one to veto that idea, backed strongly by Percy. She's glad they didn't. She felt like an outsider as is, she would have hated being dumped in a house that she never expected to actually exist.

She gives up on practice, considering there's nobody to practice with, anyway, making her way to the Big House. Chiron and Mr. D are playing pinochle with two young satyrs that Annabeth doesn't recognize. When he notices her, Chiron looks up, smiling almost proudly at her.

"Ah, there she is. Come here, Annabeth." He gestures. One of the satyrs pulls up a chair for her. She declines the seat.

"So the rumors are true." Mr. D says, not looking up from his cards. "The Annie Bell girl has returned."

"Mr. D, we've met several times since." Annabeth points out. Mr. D shrugs.

"Sit."

"I'd rather not."

"It wasn't a question." Annabeth knows when to admit she's lost, so she sits down. Mr. D looks up at her, somewhat bored. "My powers, as you have probably already been told, are getting weaker."

"Oh no." Annabeth deadpans. "How will the world survive without wine and parties." She thinks her low tolerance for godly bullshit is heavily influenced by Percy.

"Devastating." Mr. D agrees, either not sensing, or more likely, ignoring her sarcasm. "Anyway, you'll do." He says, giving her a distasteful once-over. "I need someone to go into the city and bring me some wine."

"I thought you weren't allowed-"

"Oh, Zeus, may the gods bless him-" There's a thunder booming over them. Mr. D smiles cruelly at the sky. "He hates when I say that. Anyway, he's been allowing me some privileges because of all the help I've provided him over the years. Well earned, I'd say."

"You're Camp director!" Annabeth cries. "You can't possibly do that _drunk_ -"

"Annabeth." Chiron cuts her off. "Why don't you go into the city and get Mr. D what he asks for." He looks around him, spotting Percy scowling as he leaves the infirmary. "Ah, there's Percy. He'll drive you there."

"I don't need Percy to take me _anywh_ -" Annabeth starts, but Chiron's already waved him over and her ex-boyfriend is already jogging through the large field towards them. He doesn't look at Annabeth.

"Hey, Chiron." He says easily. The wind blows his hair to the side and his orange camp t-shirt flaps noisily against his chest.

"Percy, Mr. D would like some, er, refills, if you could go downtown and maybe show Annabeth around?"

Annabeth expects Percy to protest, make some witty remark about Mr. D. Instead, Percy looks over at Mr. D with an expression she doesn't understand and sighs.

"Come on, Annabeth. Maybe we'll run into a couple monsters for practice." He says, gesturing for her to lead the way.

A little confused, she goes towards what she thinks may be the car park and looks around for a bit, but doesn't spot Paul Blofis' blue beat up car anywhere. In retrospect, it was silly of her to have thought nothing would've changed in all these years. Even so, you can imagine her surprise when Percy goes straight for the sleek deep blue sports car, one of the only ones she can recognize- A Maserati Spyder.

Percy seems to know exactly what she's thinking, because he looks over his shoulder at her with a small smile.

"Hermes owed me a favor." Is his only explanation. Annabeth doesn't ask any more questions, only silently gets into the passenger seat and belts herself in.

Percy turns on the radio and lowers the hood, sliding on a pair of sunnies. They don't speak for a while- And are driving in the opposite direction of the city. Percy must sense her confusion because he sends her a wicked grin.

"Know a better place about an hour away. Good break from Camp and- Everything." He says, looking ahead. Annabeth nods, unable to speak. They sit in silence for what she estimates is eight painful minutes.

"So, I heard Grover's been really busy. Does he visit Camp much?" She asks. Percy doesn't respond immediately.

"I wouldn't know." He says after some time. Annabeth looks over at him but his eyes are on the road. He must feel her gaze on him, because he elaborates. "We drifted apart, kind of."

Percy says it breezily, but Annabeth knows him. She hears the sadness in his voice- Besides, Grover was Percy's _best_ friend. They'd both take a knife to the chest for each other without a second thought. Even before Annabeth left, Grover had said that he couldn't come back to Camp to help with Percy out- But Annabeth understood. He'd had a duty, as Lord of the Wild. Even so, she'd never have imagined that either of them would ever _want_ to cut ties to each other.

"I'm sorry." She says, immediately knowing that was a stupid thing to say. It wasn't like Grover was dead. "How are Paul and Sally?"

"They're okay. Asked about you. Estelle's going off to middle school next year, so they're developing like a premature empty nest syndrome." He jokes. Annabeth smiles a little, but it makes her cheeks hurt- It feels too strained.

"Can't believe she's gotten so big! I'd love to meet her."

"You can." Percy looks over at her, lips pulled up on the side. "Once we destroy the army of evil demigods and save the world. Maybe we'll make it home in time for Jimmy Kimmel."

Annabeth _loves_ Jimmy Kimmel. She'd had a crush on him since she was like ten years old, and she'd told Percy about it ages ago in passing. She didn't think he'd actually listened to that. She rolls her eyes.

"All in a day's work, right?" She asks before frowning. The Kimmel comment had distracted her, but his words catch up to her brain. "Wait, we're fighting an army of _demigods_?"

Nobody ever tells her about the prophecy. They tell her that she's mentioned, and that it's dark, but all she knew right now was that Nico turned up at her door one day, demanded she come back with him, and when she was about to tell him no, a hydra wrecked her little backyard. If that wasn't weird enough, she did end up shadow traveling across the country to get back to Camp, which was both, the same, and a whole new planet, and then Clarisse and Rachel had told her she was out cold for _three days_. Then they told her she was a bad friend, which stung, and Percy and Nico had burst in, declaring it was time for her to practice. And so, she did- She worked on swordplay and archery for long enough for her to get so tired by the night that she went straight to bed. She'd barely had any time to think about exactly what was going on.

Percy looks like he's cursing himself mentally, and then gives up. He pulls up to the edge of the road and flicks his sunnies up so they rest on his head.

"Do you remember Chloe Forsyth?" Percy asks. She doesn't, but nods anyway. He reads her like a book. "Daughter of Aphrodite, was maybe a year or two older than us? She didn't have many friends."

Annabeth shakes her head dumbly. Percy sighs. "Well, she exists. Anyway, these demigods- With Chloe at the head, they're trying to bring down the gods."

"Is this the most overused story or what." Annabeth says.

"Tell me about it." Percy agrees. "You'd think we'd learn- Whatever, so this wasn't really big news. Forsyth and her little band of demons weren't really, like, a national threat or anything. They had a stupid idea- that if they just _stopped_ believing in the gods, they would fade away. Ridiculous, right?"

Annabeth doesn't respond, so he goes on. "Except it was apparently a smart move, because she got so many people to stop believing in the gods that it's actually sapping their power. The minor gods are getting the worst of it, but if Dionysus is struggling too, we may soon have a big problem."

He starts the car again and they're back on the road, but Annabeth still doesn't respond. In honesty, all she can think is- The plan was _genius_. Like cutting off the gods' power at the source. No immortals, no monsters- Just the demigods.

"We can't _destroy_ them, though." She says. "That- You _can't_ , right?"

"Why not?" Percy looks over with a sincere frown, and she feels her throat closing in panic. How is he not seeing this? She thinks. _Or what if he does_ , a small part of her mind asks, _and doesn't see the problem anyway_? She banishes the thought.

"Percy." She says. "They're _demigods_. You can't run Riptide through another demigod."

"I don't see why not." Percy shrugs, but she sees it. There's a split second of hesitation- Percy's trying to find a better alternative. Just knowing that makes her want to throw her arms around him.

She's looking at the same boy who could've killed Ethan Nakamura, but lightly wounded him instead. The boy she'd grown up with, who wouldn't hurt a fly if he could help it. The nostalgia hits her like a brick wall, unexpected and hard, nearly physically knocking the breath out of her. Percy looks a little amused at her, but she doesn't care.

"We're going to figure this out." She says.

"Of course we are." Percy gives her another easy smile, and this time, returning it isn't as difficult. "We're Percy and Annabeth."

She likes the way it sounds rolling off his tongue. It makes her want to curl up by his side and kiss his neck and run her hands through his hair.

She looks around her. They've just entered a small town with about five stores, one of which is a seedy liquor store. Percy parks his car and gets out, and Annabeth follows.

"So, you got a boyfriend right now?" Someone had to cave and ask.

"No. Come with nothing but a long list of failed relationships and a bad taste in men to my name."

" _Annabeth_." Percy laughs as they enter the store. She hates the way he says her name. Like it's so easy, so natural- When she needs to repeat the word Percy three times in her head before actually speaking it out. She hates how it makes her feel. Like the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, like a ray of sunshine during the darkest day. "Don't joke about. If there's so many failed relationships, the problem has to be _you_. What, did you get really bad at sex?"

Annabeth glares at him but doesn't respond. She looks through the wine bottles, picking up a Chianti the same time Percy picks up a bottle of Prosecco. He looks at her selection, shrugs and heads to the counter with both bottles.

"Go on." He prods. "What was it?"

"They were all just, really boring, you know?" Annabeth allows.

She doesn't actually know why all her relationships seemed to end almost as soon as they started- There was Logan, who enjoyed having her beside him (and maybe more under him) but didn't seem to care one bit about her, at all. And then Matthew, who's temper tantrums nearly caused him to snap her neck. Nate, who doesn't really count, because she'd gone on three dates with him but he'd bored her to death each time with stories about his work at the light bulb factory. Last, and her personal favorite, was the thirty-year-old Owen, who directed one of her dances, who went on to cheat on her after being together for almost two years, with an eighteen-year-old girl. Go figure, right?

The guy behind the counter, who can't be older than twenty, grins at them, like he knows a secret they don't.

"Don't worry, I won't ask for your ID." He winks at Annabeth. She stares back at him.

"I'm twenty-six."

"Yeah, I know." The guy says slowly with another exaggerated wink. "As am I."

Annabeth opens her mouth, and then shuts it. She looks over at Percy, who looks like he's trying not to laugh. He hands the clerk his card and keys in his pin.

"Right. Thanks, man. Have a good one." Percy lets Annabeth pick up the bottles and shoves his hands in his pockets, following her out the store.

"So, boring guys?" He asks once they're out. Annabeth shrugs.

"How about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you seeing someone?" Percy jumps into the car over the door. Annabeth takes the more sophisticated option.

"Sort of." Percy says, starting up the engine. Annabeth feels like he's just smacked her in the face, which is dumb, because why would he still be single, anyway? He's a gorgeous man and he's so charming- there had to be someone who caught his attention.

"Sort of is a strange way to put it." She answers, hoping there was no long pause. If he notices it, Percy ignores it.

"It's a strange relationship." He says. Annabeth feels uncomfortable asking any further, so she lets the radio play some Shawn Mendes to fill in the silence. Percy is the one to break it. "It's Drew." He says.

Annabeth looks at him with a frown. "What?"

"The girl I'm- I wouldn't say seeing so much as sleeping with?" It comes out as a question. "It's Drew Tanaka. You know, the one who bullied Piper- The one you once nearly drove your sword through?"

" _Drew Tanaka_." Annabeth repeats. His revelation is somehow even worse than knowing that he was seeing someone at all. It's as if an ice fist is closing over her heart. She grinds her jaw. She's been avoiding Piper this whole time, and she's still mad at her, even if she's forgotten why- But the fact that Drew had tried to bully her was still unacceptable, even if it was eight years ago.

"Yeah…" Percy's voice trails off. "It isn't serious or anything, just like a friends with benef-"

"No. Oh, no. Don't explain it to me, I don't actually want to know." Annabeth cuts him off, trying to shake off the image of Drew with her manicured hands all over Percy. She doesn't want to think about it. She cannot believe he followed her up with Drew Tanaka.

"Okay." Percy says. They drive in silence until she feels a little guilty about her behavior. Sure, she's a little jealous, but it isn't Percy's fault- that's her own problem. He's just living his best life, and as someone who does truly care for him, shouldn't she be happy for him?

"What's that like, then?" She asks finally. Percy looks over at her, brows pulled together in confusion. "You know, Drew."

"It's alright." Percy nods, face clearing up. He looks back ahead to the road. "She still doesn't get along with Piper, if you're wondering, but Piper and Reyna moved into a flat in the city, so it isn't as explosive as it was."

"Why didn't you?" Annabeth asks then.

"Why didn't I…?"

"Move into the city. I know you've got a place. Will told me."

Percy pauses, like he's trying to rehearse his answer mentally. "You make me really nervous, Annabeth." He says finally with a weak laugh. "It's dangerous. You're dangerous." She doesn't know how to take that. She waits patiently for his answer.

"It didn't feel right." He confesses. "Somehow… Incomplete. Undeserving. Call it superstition guilt… stupidity. I'll move in some day." He promises. "But as of now- I still haven't been in. We could've got Mr. D his alcohol from the city, but I figured we'd do well with some time off, you know? You and me and no talk about the prophecy or what's coming."

He sends her a guilty smile that makes her insides turn to goo. She wants to kiss him, tell him to choose her over Drew. She wants to fall in love with him again- so easy, so familiar- headfirst and not once think about the consequences. Then she thinks of the last thing he said to her, before all of this. Her heart sinks to her toes and her stomach twists uncomfortably.

"Yeah," She says, voice rough. She avoids his gaze. "This is good, I guess."

They drive in silence again. Percy seems more comfortable this time, but Annabeth wants nothing more than to jump out. The car is as airy as it can get, but she still feels suffocated. Like the world around her is crushing down on her, robbing her of her ability to breathe. She can't stop thinking about Percy. About Piper and Jason and Travis and all her other friends. People she sees at Camp who avoid meeting her eye. She wants her brain to stop conjuring up memories of how much she loved them- How she'd have taken a bullet for any of them- and then how little they want to do with her now.

Her stomach churns, and if she'd eaten breakfast, there would be no doubt that she'd have thrown up all over Percy's Maserati. She takes a deep breath- and then another. Her brain is making the rest of her body physically hurt.

"I'm kinda glad." Percy says then, quietly. She looks at him but he looks ahead. "That you came back. They don't want to admit it yet, but everyone's missed you."

"Can I ask you something?" Annabeth says. She thinks of Nico's words in her kitchen. Percy gestures with his free hand for her to go on. "Where's Thalia?"

Percy takes his time answering. "I don't know. Last I heard, she was in Georgia, but that was like eight months ago. Why do you ask?"

"Do you think she'd want to talk to me?" Her voice is so soft, it's embarrassing.

"You of all people should know that I would _never_ be able to predict what Thalia would do."

"What would you do?" Annabeth pushes. It takes everything for her to hold herself together. She wishes there was somewhere- _anywhere_ \- in Camp private enough for her to bawl her eyes out.

"Well," Percy thinks for a second. "If I were Thalia," He says. "Who I am not, thank the gods, I would love if you IM-ed me. Sure, I'd be mad, but I'd also be really happy to see you alive and healthy."

Annabeth looks at Percy for a long while, considering it. She wants to speak with someone- Anyone- about everything that's happening. She'd tried talking with Clarisse, but the daughter of Ares just jabbed her with her electric spear and told her to get ready for 'round two of getting her ass beat'. Even Nico, who'd been surprisingly easy to hang out with lately shut off almost immediately every time she said the words "I feel like". Both Rachel and Will were friendly, but she still felt like a total outsider with them.

And Percy? Adapting to him might just be the hardest part of this whole thing. And that's saying something, because a big part of her day consists of sword fighting lessons that almost always end with her taking the maximum beating.

Thalia might be the only person other than Percy that Annabeth had missed when she left. She'd wanted to reach out to her for years, but she was so scared she wouldn't know what to say that she couldn't bring herself to. Thalia had been like a sister to her- Even if they didn't hang out as much after she became a Hunter, she'd always held a special place in Annabeth's heart.

A place she used to share with Luke, until he tried to kill both her and Annabeth multiple times. But the crazy thing is, being back at Camp- makes Annabeth miss him, too. Luke, who'd literally tricked her into holding up the sky when she was fourteen years old. She loves him- Yes, _loves_ , because there's nothing in the world that could take away everything she shared with him. He'd been a part of possibly the most important years of her life that shaped her as a person, and she'll never be able to forget that.

Every time she looks at Percy, she's reminded again how much worse off she is since leaving and how little she wants to believe it.

She looks out at the scenery flit by her.


	5. v Piper: Sleepless

**A/N: Sorry this took forever! I've been really busy. Here's a short chapter for now. I'm working on a one shot that's so far quite long and may come up sometime in 2018 lol, and that's my excuse. sorry xox**

The leaves crunch under Piper, and she has to look over her shoulder to make sure the sound didn't attract any of the harpies. If they catch her, she'd be served as tomorrow's dinner and she can't really tell Rachel about her dream if she's stewing in marinara.

She picks up speed, despite being completely out of breath, only slowing when she sees a dim glow at the entrance of Rachel's cave. She pushes open the sheer curtains only to find Rachel awake and painting almost furiously on her easel.

"Rachel?" Piper asks. "Why are you awake?"

Rachel looks up at her, but she can tell the Oracle has barely noted her presence. Rachel hums absently.

"Hello, Piper. Do you want to tell me what brings you to my cave at two in the morning?" She asks mildly, going back to paining.

Piper walks around all the junk strewn on the floor and takes a look at the painting. Like all of Rachel's work, it's vivid and tells a story, but Piper wishes it didn't. What she sees makes her blood run cold, an icy fist around her heart.

"Rach, what are you doing?" She whispers in horror. Her throat thickens until she isn't sure she can speak anymore.

"Oh, just a vision." Rachel hums.

Piper feels the burrito she ate for dinner and bile churn in her stomach, threatening to rise.

"Rachel." She says, reaching out to her friend. "Rachel, you have to snap out of this. Look at what you're doing." She gives Rachel a harsh shake, which seems to work because Rachel blinks back into the present and looks at her canvas. Her jaw drops and she lets out a scream that Piper hopes nobody in the city or Camp can hear.

They're staring at a portrait of Annabeth, skin pale and eyes vacant, blood and mud covering the side of her face and matting her hair- And dead as a doornail.

"Oh my gods." Rachel covers her mouth, her eyes shining in tears. She reaches out and rips the painting right down the middle, but they've seen what they've seen. "Sometimes my visions are misread, Piper I-" She looks over at her and starts sobbing. "You can't tell anyone- This is all my fault!"

"No. No, Rachel- I-" Piper can't bring herself to finish that sentence. She gulps again and takes a shaky breath. "I actually think you may be right." She says, voice trembling. "I had a dream… That's why I came up here…"

Rachel looks up at her, tears streaming down her face, but she nods. She pulls out a new canvas and Piper describes the dream to her and she gets to work. Neither of them speaks about what happened- Instead Piper tells her about the room Chloe Forsyth was stood in, afraid to tell her what she'd heard.

"Chloe-" Piper says quietly. "She said something else. I think it may go with what you saw."

"What was it?" Rachel asks. They sit down on the floor and stare at the painting.

"She said something about Percy- How he was a wild card. She wanted him on her side."

"That makes sense. Percy is the most powerful demigod, and with him doubting the gods, I'd have almost been surprised if she hadn't thought to recruit him."

"She wanted to use Annabeth to lure him in. She said Annabeth was their key to victory."

Rachel sighs, like this doesn't surprise her.

"Everyone who was at Camp before the battle against the Titans must know this about Percy." She says. "To save someone he loves, he will give his own life, maybe even more."

"What do you mean? Surely he wouldn't turn on Camp, his family?" Piper asks.

She's known Percy for years now, and she's never managed to figure him out. She only ever knew him through Annabeth and Jason, which means the only thing she knows about him for sure is that Annabeth was head over heels in love with him, and Jason was mildly intimidated by him. There wasn't much about his behavior she could make sense of.

He seemed like an average guy until before Annabeth left, after which he went somewhat berserk and tried to destroy everything around him, perhaps himself included, and just when she thought he was going back to being average, Annabeth came back to Camp and now she really doesn't know.

Piper tries not to obsess over Annabeth and Percy, really, she tries. But she is a child of Love itself and she can bet Aphrodite herself is biting her manicured nails watching them skirt around each other. It's so obvious they're still in love, so tangible in the way he looks for her first thing every morning, so palpable in the way her breath hitches when she meets his gaze. Piper can't believe the tragedy they've faced again, and again, and now once more.

"For Annabeth?" Rachel asks. "I wouldn't want to risk putting it to test."

"We're going to have to do something." Piper says, heart hammering against her ribs painfully.

"Yeah- We'll show Chiron this painting, and nothing else, and then you can take Percy aside and tell him what you heard."

"Me?" Piper asks. She can't pretend she's happy about it. "Can you not speak to him- You guys have always been friends."

"He has to hear it from you." Rachel shakes her head. "Every vivid detail you can remember. He needs to hear this, Piper. Nobody else will know what to do- You _have_ to talk to him."

And so, six hours later, Rachel and Piper are in the Big House, doing a show and tell of where they think Chloe is. Nico joins them and takes one look at the painting and nods, saying he'd had a dream where she was stood in the same apartment.

"Where did you guys get that from?" Annabeth asks, appearing behind them. Looking at her makes Piper's stomach squirm. She has to take a breath to stop herself from crying- Every time she looks at Annabeth, she sees the corpse. It's too much.

"I- Uh, dreamt Chloe Forsyth was here, why, do you know it?" Piper asks, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Of course I do." Annabeth says, crossing her arms over her chest. "I lived there." She says. "It's my flat in Los Angeles. Now, what the _fuck_ is Chloe Forsyth doing there?"

Piper and Rachel exchange a look. If Chloe knew where Annabeth lived, it wouldn't take her long to find her here, on Half-Blood Hill, and if she were to find a way to somehow capture her- Rachel's portrait burns at the back of her head and she forcefully shoves the image out.

"I don't know, we were just wondering. LA is far away though, so that's good, right? It's not like she's close."

"She's got a couple of hellhounds. If she chooses to shadow travel, it may not be as much time as we think." Nico says, leaning forward. "Annabeth, how are you getting on with swordplay?" He looks up at her with a smile.

Another thing Piper doesn't get- Hazel is back home in Alaska, and Reyna is busy in New Rome, which was probably why Nico adopted Annabeth as his new older sister.

New Rome.

"Not if we could find her first, right?" Piper asks, feeling hopeful for the first time. Blood rushes to her ears, and everyone turns to look at her. "Reyna and Frank. They're in California. They could find her faster than she could get here, and maybe put an end to this madness-"

Nico is already on his feet. "I'll IM them and let them know to be prepared. Annabeth, I'll need you to come give them the address."

The two of them leave just as Percy trudges in with a big yawn.

"What'd I miss?" He asks.

"Drew wasn't in last night." Piper nods to him. "Does that have any relationship to- your general appearance?" She asks. Percy shrugs, looking over his shoulder where Nico and Annabeth just left.

"Maybe, maybe not." He says. "Okay, fill me in on everything."

"We were just talking about asking the Romans to aid us in this quest against Chloe Forsyth and her army of vengeful demigods." Rachel says.

"Cool, I agree. Reyna and Frank may be better suited to handle this, anyway, seeing how absolutely merciless they are with their own." Percy mumbles.

"Anyway, Percy, I, uh- Need to talk to you." Piper says after Rachel pokes her in the side harshly.

"What about?" He asks with a frown.

"Privately?"

Percy follows her out of the Big House. When she decides they're alone, she looks up at him. He's got at least a head on her, maybe even more, and he's looking down at her with bright green eyes, his thick brows pulled together, and she understands why he would make such a formidable enemy. She's never fought him before- Not verbally, and not even for practice, and she thanks her lucky stars for that.

"I had a dream about Chloe." She admits. She doesn't know if they're at a stage where she can small talk, but she's feeling sick and dizzy and she just wants to be alone.

"Okay, and?" Percy pushes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And- Jackson, she wants you by her side. And she's got a plan. If things with Reyna don't go according to plan, if she's faster than we expect, I need you to be ready."

"For what? Relax, Piper." He lets out a laugh, and she gets a glimpse of his sharp canines. It gives him a wolf-like look, and she feels oddly safer. "I'm not going to go over to the dark side, or whatever. I'm here for you guys."

"No matter what?" She asks. Percy raises a brow at her.

"Of course."

"What if she was to blackmail you?"

"With what, my unpaid parking tickets?" He lets out another laugh.

"With Annabeth's life?" Piper asks, voice barely above a whisper, but it's loud enough to wipe the smile off Percy's face.

His expression turns angry- no, furious- and his eyes darken and swirl mysteriously. Even his posture stiffens and his muscles tense slightly. He looks at Piper with an almost predatory look, but he calms down just as quickly.

"Annabeth?" He asks. "If Chloe thinks that would mean anything at all to me, she's wrong." He answers coolly. "Trust me, Piper. Compared to the people here at Half Blood Hill, Annabeth means nothing. I'm a grown man, I understand sacrifices."

But he sounds like shattered glass, destroyed and irreparable. And there's something about his hollo words that is so heartbreaking, Piper goes against her better judgement and she blurts out the one thing she was supposed to keep secret.

"That's good, I guess." She says, body feeling empty. "Because Rachel had a vision. And whether you're prepared for that sacrifice or not, it's going to happen."

First Percy doesn't respond. He frowns at Piper in confusion, but it clears and she sees him comprehending her words.

She doesn't know what happens next- it's a blur. Percy screams, and there's a heavy gust of wind so strong it knocks her off her feet and to the ground- which is shaking violently. Around them trees fall over and the pillars of the Hestia cabin shake violently, threatening to bring the whole structure down.

"Percy, stop!" Piper cries, unable to get to her feet.

He does stop eventually, his eyes swirling with rage. Has there always been so much anger in him? Did she just never notice?

Annabeth is there in seconds.

"Percy, what was that?" She demands, stomping up to him and giving him a shove. Piper thinks he may actually kill her, but he lets her, his body going limp. Then his eyes flutter close and he falls, face-first into her arms.

Annabeth just about breaks his fall- By toppling down under him.

"Perce?" She asks, all trace of anger dissipated. From under him, she reaches out and brushes hair off of his face. "Come on, Jackson. Up we get." Her voice is so gentle, Piper can't believe she was yelling a moment ago.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" Drew's voice asks. The earthquake must have attracted people, Piper realizes, looking around and noticing other demigods starting to flock towards them.

Annabeth ignores Drew, brushing Percy's hair and humming to him. "You're too heavy Perce." She continues saying. "You've got us both down. Let's get up now, okay?"

"Get out from under him, oh my gods." Drew says louder. Annabeth sends her a withering glare.

"Drew," She says, voice level. "Sometimes you can be a real pain. Right now is one of those times. So if you can just leave this to me, I've got it." She turns back to Percy. "Right, Jackson? Your breath's tickling my stomach. Get up, my patience is running thin."

But this time Percy groans. Annabeth cups the side of his face and continues to hum until he starts moving. He finally regains consciousness and rolls off of Annabeth.

"Sorry." He mumbles. Then he reaches out and hugs her, holding her impossibly close to him. Then he lets go and steps as far away from her as possible.

"Uh…" Annabeth blinks at him. Percy nods with a cough.

"Guys," Nico cuts in. "I hate to interrupt, but that was Reyna. She had someone check out the flat, and it's empty."

Drew, who's standing next to Piper, takes a deep shaky breath. Piper looks at her and is slightly surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"You okay?" Piper asks. She's a little surprised her half-sister is taking this so seriously.

Percy and Annabeth and Nico don't notice, instead rushing to the Big House. Drew nods, but a tear betrays her.

"What's going on?"

"I know this is really stupid." She says. "With everything that's going on, crying over a boy seems dumb. But it's just- I mean, I know, you know? We were friends with benefits. Fuck buddies. Whatever. I'm just so dumb for still falling for him." She watches after Percy miserably.

Her confession takes Piper by surprise, but her own reaction surprises her more. She reaches out and holds Drew's hand.

"I'm sorry." Piper says. "Want to talk about it?"

"I don't really have any other girl friends I could talk to." Drew nods with a sniff. "I should've just been more careful, you know? He could never be mine. Or anyone's except hers. You know he still sometimes moans her name in his sleep? It's one of those things you just know better than to get tangled in- but you go ahead and do it anyway, and- I don't know."

"It's going to be okay." Is all Piper can say.

She isn't sure, because there's the looming threat of a war, with possibly two deaths, one of which may or may not include her best friend's, and she's worried and stressed and hasn't slept all night, but there's something so pure, so innocent about Drew's boy problem, that it reminds her of what life is- Little moments of happiness and heartbreak and it gives her hope.

Percy, it turns out, is not okay. He acts the same, easy smiles and relaxed banter with the other demigods, but he's never further than a meter away from Annabeth. Piper notices, and she thinks maybe Annabeth doesn't.

If someone so much as talks to her, Percy's by her side, glaring at them from behind her shoulder. Piper understands that he's protective of her. They are, after all, very special to each other. But she's Piper's best friend, too- And instead of being close to her, Piper is pushing her away. She does it selfishly, for herself. It will only hurt less, she thinks.

"You _told Percy_?" Rachel asks, appearing at her side. "What the fuck were you thinking? You can't mess with the Fates! What have you done?"

"Don't blame Piper." Percy's voice cuts in. "Rach, I know you think you're doing the right thing by keeping it from me, but it's alright. It just makes what I have to do so much easier."

"What are you talking about?" Piper asks. She doesn't like how calm Percy sounds.

"I'm just going to make Chloe's job a little easier." He shrugs. "She wants to look for me? No need. I'm willing to meet her on my own."

"Percy, she's got an army."

"And I will kill her with my bare hands." Percy finishes. He gives the two of them a charming smile. "We were trying to find a way to end this without causing anyone any harm," He shrugs. "But I don't forgive hurting my- Annabeth so easily." He corrects himself.

"Percy, think about what you're saying. It's murder. She's a demigod, like you and-" Rachel tries to argue.

"She wants to murder the gods, is that any less criminal?" Percy asks.

"Besides," Piper says. Percy looks absolutely lethal, and she doesn't like it one bit. Her heart is beating so hard it threatens to break out of her ribs and smack Percy in the face. "They haven't actually hurt Annabeth, so no need to get violent."

"It's the thought, Pipes." Percy smiles. "Luke Castellan once took her away from her home." He says bitterly. "Tortured her with the weight of the sky. And he loved her." He lets out a humorless laugh. "Imagine what Chloe Forsyth, almost a stranger, would do to lure me in."

There's a heavy pause.

"Never again."


End file.
